This invention relates to the field of measuring thermophysical properties of gases, and more particularly, to the determination of thermophysical gas properties using gross inferential properties and empirical correlations, at arbitrary temperature and pressure.
Virtually all natural gas produced in the U.S. is used as fuel. As such, its intrinsic value lies in its heating value. However, because of the lack of low-cost, reliable instrumentation for measuring energy content or energy flow rate, natural gas traditionally has been bought, sold, and transported on the basis of volume. Gas composition and energy content are currently determined by periodically analyzing sampled gas from the pipeline.
With the advent of deregulation and open access in the gas pipeline industry, large-volume, long-term commodity gas contracts gave way to more small-volume, short-term transportation contracts, taking gas xe2x80x9cpackagesxe2x80x9d from many supply and storage fields with widely varying gas qualities. These gas packages lose their identity when mixed in the pipeline, and the purchaser receives whatever is in the pipeline at the time of need.
Without economical means for continuously (real-time or near real-time) measuring the quality of gas entering and exiting the pipeline, neither the supplier nor the end-user can assure quality of the commodity exchange. Also, gas supplies cannot be blended to assure conformity to a quality standard. End-users withdraw gas on the basis of energy needs. If the energy content is low, end-users simply withdraw (and pay for) more gas than anticipated.
Current technology provides two approaches to energy flow rate measurement for natural gas. The first requires a composition assay and a flow rate measurement. The composition assay allows calculating the heating value of the gas, and is also required to calculate selected gas properties (e.g., gas density) needed to determine energy flow rates. The second approach measures gas density and heating value directly, using special instrumentation, and requires no composition assay.
The system and method of the present invention provide for determination of thermophysical properties of a multi-component hydrocarbon gas. Exploiting the interdependence of properties the components of such a gas allows characterizing its hydrocarbon energy without a detailed composition assay.
The method described herein involves determining the diluent concentrations (e.g., predominantly nitrogen and carbon dioxide) of these gas. These concentrations may be measured or inferred from other measurements with approximate accuracy, as they account for only a small fraction of the whole natural gas mixture. The remaining hydrocarbon gas components (i.e., the majority of the gas mixture) can be characterized by inferential properties, without differentiation of species. For the purpose of the present invention, three inferential properties were selected in an exemplary fashion. These are the speed of sound, carbon dioxide concentration, and nitrogen concentration. The speed of sound may be measured at any arbitrary temperature and pressure.
As a specific example, the concentration of carbon dioxide and nitrogen are determined, along with the speed of sound in the gas, to determine a thermophysical property (e.g. the Mixture Molar Ideal Gross Heating Value). An empirical correlation exists between the thermophysical property, the speed of sound, the concentration of carbon dioxide, and the concentration of nitrogen in the gas.
Depending on the gas components for which the concentration is determined, various thermophysical properties can be determined more or less accurately. For example, the Mixture Molar Ideal Gross Heating Value, the Mixture Molecular Weight, the Mass-Based Heating Value, and the Density of the gas can all be determined within about xc2x10.02% of selected model values by implementing the system and method of the present invention.
The concentration of the diluent gas components may be determined directly (e.g., via measurement), or indirectly. For example, the concentration of a particular gas component may be determined by correlating a thermodynamic property for the selected component with one or more directly measurable inferential properties of the component.